Yamaha NS-10

The Yamaha NS-10 was introduced in 1978 and was actualy designed for the hi-fi market. Gradualy over the years this monitor found favour with recording studios at a time when purpose designed studio nearfield monitors virtualy didn't exist, and the NS-10 went on to become the worlds most used nearfield monitor throughout the 1980's and into the 1990's.

Probably more global chart hits were mixed on these speakers than any other, which ironicaly calls into question the whole debate about NOT using 'hi-fi' speakers for mixing.

If you went into pretty much any record label A&R office with your demo's back in the 80's and early 90's the office setup would most likely include a pair of NS-10's... The chance that the music they were listening to had been mixed on NS-10's was so high that most labels therefore also used them for reviewing material - The theory being of course that one was going to listen on the same speakers the track had been mixed on, and this was true for the majority of masters and demo's they had to audition.

Love 'em or loath 'em, (and many loathed them), the NS10's therefore found their place in recording history and thus they are added to dancetech's listings for posterity.

In practice the NS-10 has a slightly 'boxey' but very tight midrange sound due to a slight 2k boost the monitors exhibited combined with not too much bottom end as the NS-10's rolled off at around 200hz - They are hard to describe, but the bass speakers exhibit alot of extrusion when they are pushed and the whole sound is tight but middy.

The original NS-10's were also famous for the slightly over-pronounced and harsh treble sound of the tweeters when they were layed on their side on top of a mixer bridge, and thus people would stick a rizla cigarette paper over the tweeters to 'cool them down' a bit.

The NS10's rapidly growing 'word of mouth' sales combined with this 'harsh-tweeter' feedback from studio users caused Yamaha to freshly attack this new market and they introduced the newer NS-10M Studio monitor version with the 'M' suffix standing for 'Monitor' - The new design tweaked the crossover circuit to give slightly less tweeter output and it was also designed to work more efficiently when the monitors were placed horizontally, as was the working methodology of engineers at the time - To facilitate this, Yamaha turned the logo on the units by 90 degrees and the tweeter was moved slightly nearer towards the top corner.

The explosive popularity of the Yamaha NS-10M speaker system for near- field monitoring in professional sound studios throughout the world has resulted in the development of the NS-10M STUDIO model. The NS-10M STUDIO maintains the quality and performance of the original NS10M, but has been refined and redesigned specifically for professional applications. To begin with, you can throw away the tissue paper. The high-end output of the NS-10M STUDIO has been modified - on the basis of extensive testing and feedback from the field - for optimum balance in the studio control room.

The NS-10M STUDIO retains the unique sheet-formed white-cone 18cm woofer of the original NS-10M, but employs a redesinged 3.5cm dome tweeter to achieve high-end response that is more suitable for studio use. Optimum woofer/tweeter matching and careful crossover design ensure smooth, natural transition between frequency ranges with minimum phase variation. Frequency response is remarkably flat from 60 Hz right up to 20 kHz, and superior transient response delivers crisp, transparent sound. The exceptionally tight, clean reproduction and precise overall response of this system is a must for accurate sound evaluation and image positioning.

While the original NS-10M was primarily a vertical design, the NS-10M STUDIO has been remodeled to facilitate on-console horizontal placement. Overall construction is more rugged to withstand the rigors of nonstop professional use.

engineers who got to know the NS-10 & the following NS-10M found them easy to mix on at lower nearfield volume and while they are accurate enough to mix on, they also exhibit alot of characteristics of hi-fi speakers allowing the engineer to mix and at the same time get some feedback as to how a typical end-user will hear the material.

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Had those speakers for years and couldn't get used to the thinmid-ish over trebled sound, so after a few month's they got set aside (never used them again) however due to the hype I sold them justnow this week for what I paid for them 20 years ago, I personally thinkthey are way overhyped, anybody with ears goes for a real speaker......